Texas Teen Faces 8 Years in Jail for an Insensitive Joke on Facebook

A very disturbing pattern is becoming evident all across the nation.  For a country that has 5% of the world’s population yet 25% of the entire planet’s prisoners, we sure do seem to eager to bump that figure up even higher. My guess is the trend has a lot to do with the private prison system in the country, which means higher levels of incarceration equals higher profits.  I think it also has to do with a troubling move toward criminalizing speech and an attack on the First Amendment generally.  This particular case occurred in Austin, Texas and nineteen year old Justin Carter now faces eight years in jail for an insensitive joke on Facebook. Thanks to the site Texas Prison Bid’ness, we can gain some perspective on the private prison industry in the Lone Star State:

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Now, here’s the story from KHOU in Houston:

Justin Carter was 18 back in February when an online video game “League of Legends” took an ugly turn on Facebook. 

Jack Carter says his son Justin and a friend got into an argument with someone on Facebook about the game and the teenager wrote a comment he now regrets. 

“Someone had said something to the effect of ‘Oh you’re insane, you’re crazy, you’re messed up in the head,’ to which he replied ‘Oh yeah, I’m real messed up in the head, I’m going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,’ and the next two lines were lol and jk.,” said Carter. 

“LOL” stands for “laughing out loud,” and “jk” means “just kidding,” but police didn’t think it was funny. Neither did a woman from Canada who saw the posting. 

Justin’s dad says the woman did a Google search and found his son’s old address was near an elementary school and she called police. 

Justin Carter was arrested the next month and has been jailed since March 27. He’s charged with making a terroristic threat and is facing eight years in prison, according to his dad. 

Friends and family have started an online petition they’re hoping will garnish more attention for Justin’s plight. You can find it by clicking here.

This is almost incomprehensible.  Were his comments insensitive and disturbing? Sure. Would a call from the police to his parents to discuss the matter have been warranted?  Maybe.  That said, I cannot think of a single reason why this kid would ever spend more than a night in jail for simply doing what many immature kids do every minute of every day. Expect many more cases such as these, as the U.S. fully transitions into a police state economy.

Full article here.

In Liberty,
Mike

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12 thoughts on “Texas Teen Faces 8 Years in Jail for an Insensitive Joke on Facebook”

  1. These moron cops wouldn’t know a terrorist if one walked in with Al Qaeda tattooed to his forehead. It’s not just that the law is stupid, it was always meant to police the masses not the terrorists.

    It’s the morons that blindly follow whatever they are told. They are the problem because they enforce this nonsense without any thought process. We call these non-thinkers robots.

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  2. Clearly this is George Bush’s fault and the fault of our broken immigration system which needs to provide amnesty and fiscal support to everyone.

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  3. ” That said, I cannot think of a single reason why this kid would ever spend more than a night in jail for simply doing what many immature kids do every minute of every day. ”

    Yeah, kids usually just go around making fake, rather gruesome death threats every day. Friend of mine made three last Thursday.

    I agree with the article in general – the kid should have probably gotten some sort of conference with the police and his parents, not arrested – but yeesh. Are we really chalking up “shooting a school full of kids and eating their still beating hearts” to simple immaturity? Wow.

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  4. > Texas Teen Faces 8 Years in Jail for an Insensitive Joke on Facebook

    actually, he’s facing jail for not showing proper servility and fear of authority.

    The US (and other western nations) have worked hard to create an atmosphere of terror with which to corral and herd the hearts and minds of the people. People will be punished for pushing against their enclosure .. and the most effective way to push against these prison bars is by mockery and humor. The state won’t stand for it.

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  5. Let the inquisition begin. Mockery of the ‘war on terror’ will be punished severely and publicly to set an example for all of you freedom lovers who believe you have a right to free speech. A word here and a word there -soon you’ll be repeating talking points only -just like the media reporting this s**t without criticism. Taking orders from a jerk roaming aimlessly around the world with his very own personal aircraft carrier. lol ha ha ha

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  6. Private prisons. I can’t think of a better example of the perverse commodification of modern life than this. Perverse incentives yield perverse results.

    Thanks for highlighting this, Mike.

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  7. thought police 1

    freedom of speech 0

    and by the way no crime committed if no injury to anyone or anything…

    what is most troubling is that it occurred in TEXAS….a freedom loving Republic…I think not…..

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  8. The dumbest thing i have ever heard. The dumb canadian woman who reported it should be putin prison for life because she obviously has nothing to do. Prison would suit her fine and keep her busy and she would get her ass kicked. All of which she obviously needs!

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  9. This is just wrong. Kids are gonna be immature in their own way. They make jokes about the most serious things which is kinda their fault but he shouldn’t have gotten 8 years he should’ve got a warning and a night in nothing more than that. This just shows that people take the wrong things way too serious.

    Reply

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